DubSteve68

That's not quite true. The RGB PRO works fine on my Asus X99 Deluxe II, just as long as BCLK is at 100MHz (and SPD_WRITE is enabled of course). If you enable XMP and the BCLK is forced to 125MHz then iCUE loses communication with the DIMMs. The workaround is disable XMP and ensure your BCLK is at the standard 100MHz, iCUE will then detect your DIMMs, set the lighting configuration you want and then re-enable XMP. The only issue I found beyond that is animated lighting effects go out of sync between DIMMs in the absence of iCUE, but if you set a static lighting config there are no sync issues. Alternatively, I found that putting the four DIMMs in the first four physical slots to the left of the CPU socket (as opposed to the first four logical slots which are grey) would allow iCUE to see and control the DIMMs. Downsides to this are it's an unsupported configuration according to Intel, and theres a good chance the RAM is only running in dual-channel mode. Not exactly the end of the world but I didn't buy a kit of four just to run in dual-channel mode. As for the BIOS revision, I've wound back to the last 2017 version (pre Spectre/Meltdown) to see if any further issues appeared. Everything still works just as well as with the latest BIOS. Obviously the system is potentially vulnerable to these exploits but that's easier to live with than the performance hit introduced by the updated/patched BIOS (this system can be nuked and fully restored in under half an hour, a minor inconvenience if the system does actually fall victim).

Quick update for anyone with similar issues. It's now five days since I last spoke to a Corsair representative, and while they were very helpful and keen to have the kit returned to them for investigation our window of opportunity to do this has now closed and the kit will be returned to Amazon for a refund. It’s disappointing that I’ve not heard anything more on the subject when it was clear there was a definite time constraint. I thought we had a chance of making some progress as this should be a great product and I didn’t particularly want to return it, but equally didn’t want to be stuck with a product I was unhappy with. I do wonder if this is a broader problem that is going unnoticed by those using animated rainbow configurations as it’s only really apparent with single static colours using a mix of RGB, such as yellow, purple or white. I was briefly tempted to return the set and upgrade to the new Dominator RGB but I couldn’t be bothered facing the same potential QC issues with the lighting so have ordered some memory from a completely different manufacturer.

I'm guessing by the way nobody has stepped up and said my RAM kit doesn't look right that this is in fact normal, and that they all look this patchy when set to a static colour. After playing around a little more I've noticed the defects aren't visible when the LEDs are set to one of the primary colours, but setting the DIMMs to any static colour choice involving more than one primary shows the problem straight away. Choosing cyan, magenta or yellow from the basic presets highlights the lack of colour uniformity and it looks awful. This might be tolerable if these were the cheapest on the market but they're not, they're from a premium brand that I've used for years. I've still a week or so left to send these back for a full refund so if there's anyone out there who can confirm I've a bad set I'd be willing to give Corsair the benefit of the doubt. If not then I'll spend my money elsewhere...

Hi Rick, Thanks for the response. BIOS is up to date, as is the version of iCue (3.12.118) and DRAM firmware (0.96.57). This really doesn't look like a software or firmware issue - with software control enabled I can manually check each individual RGB LED and there are no detection or sync issues. There is no consistent pattern and if I move the DIMMs between slots the colour inconsistencies follow the DIMMs, not the slot. Every DIMM shows colour patches where there should be none and they all look like muted pastel rainbows as shown in the first photograph. Each DIMM has its own particular colour inconsistency, the most noticeable ones highlighted below. DIMMs 1x green 1x green, 2x magenta 1x magenta 1x magenta Now I completely understand that with only 10 LEDs you're not going to get a perfectly even illumination across each DIMM, but it's not unreasonable to expect each of those 10 LEDs to give the same colour (or shade of white) for a given set of RGB values. I could live with that. On the first DIMM, as an example, there appear to be 5 LEDs which are a very close match, 4 with varying mild magenta casts and one with a distinct green cast. I'm not going to break each one down right now but each DIMM has at least one LED with a noticeable cast that's different to the others. As I said before, it wouldn't be a problem (and would actually be expected) if all the LEDs had a uniform colour cast that was different to the other components in my system. A uniform cast can be tuned out to match other components but the colour casts of individual LEDs aren't so easy to deal with - and shouldn't even be a thing that needs dealing with. So my original question still stands, have I simply got a set from a bad batch or are they all like this? The Vengeance RGB PROs offer terrific animation possibilities and seem to represent the state-of-the-art for custom illumination, but it would be a real shame if they were let down by QC issues. Not everyone wants a PC filled with rainbows, and I don't think it's that unusual for someone to want to go with a black and white theme. Sure, I could just buy components with a fixed colour, but then matching that colour across components is difficult (if not impossible) without fine RGB control. Also, I might decide to go for an orange theme (as an example) in 6 month's time which wouldn't be an option if I bought fixed-colour components. I'd really like to see a set of these with lighting set to static and colour set to R:255 G:255 B:255 showing perfect colour evenness, if only to demonstrate Corsair are on top of their game with QC (and that a replacement set might actually deliver the quality I'm hoping for...). As I originally said, there's a lot to like about the Vengeance PRO RGBs and it would be disappointing if I had to replace them with a different design, albeit a different design with better consistency.

Hi All I recently picked up a 32GB kit of Vengeance PRO RGB DDR4 3000C15 as reviews said they were pretty much the best in town as far as RGB quality goes. There is so much to like about these and the config options are great but unfortunately the RGB colour consistency on my kit is very poor. Worse than that, the colour is inconsistent across the RGB LEDs on each DIMM. As a photographer I'm maybe a little more sensitive to colour casts than some but that's not the issue. Tuning the RGB settings for a neutral white is easy enough for an individual RGB LED, the problem is there are several LEDs showing distinctly different hues and some of the iCue lighting effects cannot compensate for individual LED hues. I'd fully expect to need to do some tuning to match the kit's white setting to that of the GPU and motherboard but that's simply not possible if I can't get a consistent white across the DIMM kit. This really shouldn't be an issue on a premium quality component, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect excellent colour uniformity given the "RGB PRO" title. Setting the LEDs to white is an excellent way to highlight consistency and quality, neither of which seem to be on display here. I guess if many folks are running their kits in unicorn mode they'll never notice the lack of consistency. The first image shows the deviations from white across all the DIMMs (ALL LEDs set to R:255 G:255 B:255) and the second shows a single LED illuminated on two neighbouring DIMMs (again, LEDs set to R:255 G:255 B:255). Have I got a kit from a bad batch or are they all this poor? Is it worth returning them for another set or should I just go with another manufacturer? I had higher expectations from this kit and am wondering whether to cancel my order for an LL120 kit if it's going to be equally patchy. Not that it's relevant or will have any bearing on what looks to be a quality control issue but I'm using the latest iCue and the DIMMs are on the latest firmware, and there's no other RGB software running...

I've exactly the same hardware scenario (X99-DII/Vengeance RGB PRO). Enabling SPD_WRITE with XMP disabled allows iCue to see, configure and sync the Vengeance RGB. Obviously, as you're painfully aware, it looks like XMP breaks communication with the RAM if it's configured as per Intel specs (DIMMs installed in A1/B1/C1/D1 when using x4). Installing the RAM in A1/A2/B1/B2 works in iCue with XMP enabled although this isn't an Intel-endorsed config and I suspect memory operation will only be dual-channel mode, so it's swings-and-roundabouts and what you gain with XMP you lose on reduced bandwidth. It would be interesting to see what happens with an 8x DIMM setup. I've not tried DIMMs in C1/C2/D1/D2, I've got more pressing things to do such as currently saving Stalburg from nuclear meltdown (unless Corsair wish to send me freebies or pay me for doing their compatibility/QA testing). One important thing, in case there's a Corsair employee reading this, Windows 10 gives the "hardware connected" sound when the Vengeance driver is applied during iCue installation, and if XMP is enabled at this time Windows gives the "hardware disconnected" sound shortly afterwards. So aside from issues relating to the need for SPD_WRITE, this potentially looks like a Corsair driver issue as it sort-of works with XMP enabled but only if the DIMMs are in an unsupported configuration. If this is an insurmountable hardware issue then Corsair should make it clear to potential buyers that RGB functionality will be limited on the X99 platform. I suspect it isn't though as I've also used Vengeance LED and Vengeance RGB DIMMs with XMP enabled, configured without any problem detecting or syncing using Corsair Link.